Mark finally woke up from his nap.  He felt warmness radiating from his side and groaned, instincts kicking in.

“Jackson, how many time have I told you-“Mark turned around to give him a shove but instead of facing his servant he was nose to nose with someone else.

“Jackson?  You thought I was Jackson?  Is he often in bed with you? Do you have something you need to tell me?”

Mark was so startled he almost rolled off the bed.  “Jinyoung? What are you…?”

“Someone decided to leave and not come and tell me when they came back.  I saw Sooyoung and I couldn’t help but wonder where you were.”  Jinyoung scooted closer to Mark.

Mark instinctively let his arm reach around Jinyoung waist and pulled him in even closer.  “Sorry, I wasn’t feeling so good when I got back so I thought a bit of rest might help.”

Jinyoung reached out to push the bangs out of Mark’s face.  “It’s alright, I was just overly worried.”

Mark started to lean his face towards his Jinyoung’s but he stopped himself when he heard a very loud clearing of the throat next to him.

“Um, I see that you guys are in your own little world again, but can you maybe save the flirting for when I’m not in the room?” 

This time, Mark was startled enough to propel away from Jinyoung, causing him to topple over the bed in the process.  “Jackson!?  How long were you standing there?”

“I was standing here the whole time; you were just too distracted to notice me, “Jackson walked over to help Mark up while Jinyoung was laughing on the bed.  “You’re the one who left me with Prince Park, remember?”

Mark did vaguely remember Jinyoung being kidnapped by Jackson before he left. 

“I was the one who let him in here since he wouldn’t stop nagging wondering where you were.”  Jackson sat down on the side of the bed with Jinyoung.  “He’s a little boring, but I guess he’s a good guy.”

“Boring?  I’m not boring!”  Jinyoung slapped Jackson on the arm.

“You asked me if I wanted to hear about your top five book recommendations from the palace library… is there anyone who wants to hear about that?”  Jackson retorted.  “If Mark said he was interested, he was lying.”

Mark sent a disapproving glance before looking back at Jinyoung.  “I swear, I was interested.”

“It’s fine, I knew you weren’t interested.  I’m just happy you listened.”  Jinyoung smiled and Mark felt the butterflies in his stomach again.

“He also asked me all about what you were like!  I made sure to tell him all the embarrassing things you’ve done for the past six years.”  Jackson sent an evil smile his way and Mark panicked.

“Wait, you didn’t say anything weird, right?”  Mark looked at Jinyoung for answers.

“Don’t worry; all your secrets are safe with me!”  Jinyoung’s smirked and Mark could tell he knew too much.

Mark groaned and decided to just ignore the weird friendship that was brewing between his best friend and his boyfriend. 

Jinyoung hopped off the bed and gave Mark a quick hug.  “I need to leave for evening studies, but maybe I’ll see after dinner?”

Mark suddenly remembered he needed to talk with Jinyoung.  He wasn’t sure what he wanted to say exactly, but there were too many thoughts that he needed to get off his chest.  “Yes, can you meet me here again after dinner?  I wanted to ask you something.”

“No problem.”  Jinyoung walked over to the door.   “Bye Jackson!”  He smirked before as he looked over to Mark.  “Bye… little .”  He rushed out the door before Mark could even react and Jackson burst out into a fit of laughter next to him.

Mark grabbed Jackson by the shoulders and tackled him into the bed. He glared at him from above. 

“You’re dead to me.”

Mark didn’t have anything to do while he waited for dinner to begin so he opted to join Jackson on his mission to find Jaebum; he apparently hadn’t ‘reached his daily quota of annoying him’ yet.

Mark had only met Jaebum a few times and from those interactions he definitely would not want to mess with him, but Jackson said he wasn’t really that scary and it was actually quite fun.  Mark still didn’t want to try it.

They found him quite easily; he was in one of the music rooms hovering over Youngjae as he practiced the piano.

“Prince Tuan!”  Youngjae bolted up from his seat and bowed as soon as he entered the room, Jaebum followed suit more casually.

“Youngjae!”  Jackson skipped over to Youngjae and took a seat next to him on the piano.  “There’s my favourite piano player!”  Jackson reached out to ruffle his hair like he was some sort of puppy and Youngjae tried to swat his hand away while laughing.

“Jackson, we’re actually trying to rehearse right now.  I told you Youngjae can’t give any piano lessons this week.”  Jaebum looked tense, but that just seemed to fuel Jackson even more.

“I know!  Can’t I still watch you guys rehearse?  Just quietly observing, it’ll be like I’m not even here.”  Jaebum scoffed and even Mark had to smile a bit.  Jackson wasn’t capable of ‘quietly observing’.

“What are you guys rehearsing for?”  Mark stepped into the conversation before Jaebum attempted to strangle Jackson again.

“There’s a party tomorrow night, Jaebum is going to be singing as part of the entertainment!”  Youngjae declared proudly.

Mark looked at Jaebum questioningly.  “You sing?” 

“It’s just a hobby.  I work here anyways so they don’t have to try to find external performers.” 

Jackson hopped up and swung his arm around Jaebum.  “He’s amazing! I was truly blown away the first time I heard him sing, It’s no wonder he’s official entertainment.”

Jaebum removed Jackson’s arm from his neck and crossed his arms, avoiding everyone’s gaze. “It’s really nothing.  I just do it because it’s requested of me.”

Jackson sat back down next to Youngjae and swung his arm around him instead, he didn’t try to escape like Jaebum.  They had come a long way from their first meeting, Mark thought.

“Youngjae is an amazing singer too!  I’ve only heard him once but his voice is incredible!”  Jackson was smiling and shaking Youngjae.

Youngjae turned his gaze to the ground. “Thank you, Jackson…  Jaebum is much better, though.  I’ve hardly trained my voice.”

“You’re both singers?  Are you going to be singing together tomorrow night?”  Mark asked.

“No!  I’m not really hired as a singer here, I just provide piano accompaniment.”  Youngjae said sheepishly.  “Besides, I don’t think I could sing with Jaebum in a duet, his voice is so much better than mine.”

“Nonsense,” Jaebum’s voice was very sharp, everyone stood at attention when he spoke.  “Your voice is amazing, I’d be honoured to sing together with you one day.”

Youngjae was blushing heavily as he tried to hide his face.  “Thank you.  I hope we can sing together s-someday as well.”

Jackson looked between both of them and smirked.  He took Youngjae’s face in his hands and pulled it up to face him, exposing how red he was.  “Aw, you’re so cute Youngjae, the cutest ever!”  Jackson squished his cheeks and Youngjae squirmed. 

Jaebum closed his eyes and tried to ignore it but Mark finally saw him snap as he walked over and removed Jackson’s hands forcefully.  “Stop.”

“What’s wrong Jaebum, are you jealous?”  Jackson stood up and grabbed Jaebums’s face.  “You’re also very cute Jaebum! So cute!”

Jaebum yelled at Jackson before prying his hands off and pushing Jackson away.  “Alright, that’s enough.  You’re leaving now.”  Jackson tried to speak again but Jaebum kept talking before he could start.  “Ah.  No.  Leave. Now.”  Jaebum almost pushed him right out the door.

Mark sighed and escorted himself out as well.  Jackson just giggled to himself when they were out in the hallway.

“I believe that’s my daily quota of annoyance completed for today.”

An uneventful dinner passed by and Mark now sat across from Jinyoung on his bed.

“You look tense, what’s wrong?”  Jinyoung put a hand on Mark’s shoulder to try to comfort him.

Mark couldn’t keep eye contact with him.  “I’ve just been feeling uneasy since this morning.”

“Did something happen?”

“Kind of… but that’s not the main issue.”  Mark took Jinyoung’s hand off his shoulder.  “It’s about us, our relationship.  You know this isn’t allowed right?  If we reveal this to the wrong person it would be the end for both of us.”

Jinyoung’s face dropped; his expression stone cold.  “What are you trying to say?”

“I don’t know what I’m trying to say.  All I know is that I don’t want you to ever get hurt because of me.”

“So do you want to stop being together… like this?”  Jinyoung voice wavered and Mark’s chest felt tight.

“No!  Jinyoung, that’s not what I want, but I’m just thinking about your safety.  I couldn’t handle it if you got hurt because of this; I don’t want to be the reason you… you…”

“I know what happens to people like us Mark, I’m not stupid.”  He spoke sharply, in a way that reminded him of Jaebum.  

Mark’s head snapped up, his full attention on Jinyoung’s face.

“I know what I’m feeling is inherently wrong.  I know we could be prosecuted for this.  I knew all that, yet I was still willing to take that risk for you, Mark.”  Mark felt like Jinyoung stabbed him with every sentence he spoke.

Mark wanted to be with Jinyoung so badly but the thought of anything ever happening to him hurt him to the core.  He didn’t want to think about it and he never wanted it to happen.  “Jinyoung…”

“You can’t just make me feel this way and leave like nothing happened.”  Jinyoung spoke in a soft whisper, his voice cracking along with Mark’s heart.

Mark wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted to scream.  “I don’t want to leave you Jinyoung, but…”

“Forget it.”  Jinyoung got up and left, slamming Mark’s room door behind him.

Mark was certain he had just made a terrible mistake.

Mark didn’t sleep at all that night; his heart kept racing from his encounter before.  He never said he wanted Jinyoung to leave, but he knew it was to protect Jinyoung.  They couldn’t keep up this façade forever.    The months would go by and his wedding date would arrive and then they’d have no choice but to split anyways.  He was just speeding up what was going to happen anyways.

Right?

Mark didn’t want to get out of bed but he had to show up to eat brunch with Sooyoung.  She could tell how low his mood was; even Sungjae showed some genuine concern and asked if he needed anything.  He stayed mostly quiet and as soon as brunch was over he locked himself in his room again.

Trapped with only his thoughts to keep him company he continued to try to convince himself he was doing the right thing, but every time he thought about Jinyoung he wanted to march downstairs to the library and hold in his arms and tell him he’s sorry and that he didn’t mean a word he said.  As if he’d forgive me that easily, he was really upset, rightfully so.

Eventually, he fell asleep, his body giving up after lying awake all the night before.  He was only woken up by Jackson shaking him awake.

“Mark!  Why are you asleep?  There’s a ball tonight, you need to get ready!”  Jackson yelled in his ear.

Mark had completely forgotten about the party.  He didn’t even know why they were having a party, nor did he really care.  He was just hoping to avoid Jinyoung for the night.

“Okay, I’m up.  I’ll meet you downstairs.”

The party was a more subdued one compared to his engagement party.  There were still a lot of people, but the atmosphere was more intimate.  That just meant he’d be more likely to see Jinyoung tonight.  He was frightened just thinking about how he would react to him.  Would he ignore him completely, get angry at him?  He deserved whatever happened, but for now, he glued himself to Sooyoung’s side and tried to blend in.

“Mark, are you sure you’re okay?  If you’re not feeling well you can leave.”  Sooyoung turned to him with a concerned look on her face.

“No, I wouldn’t want to make you look bad.  I’m fine, really.”  Mark tried to lie but he could see Sooyoung wasn’t buying it.

Mark was about to try and sound more convincing when he spotted Jinyoung out of the corner of his eyes and regretted being alive.

The king was with him and there were three girls swarming around him, trying to talk with him.

Sooyoung caught him staring and dived into an explanation, “This party was mainly to introduce some of the kingdom’s princesses to my brother.  He needs to be wed soon so my father is trying his best to make it happen as soon as possible.”

They had talked about it before, and he had also overheard them talk about it.  Jinyoung had always been completely against the idea but looking at him now had him completely crushed.  He was talking to all of them, a glass of wine in his hand and a huge smile on his face.  They were chatting and laughing and Mark felt sick just looking at how happy he was.

He tugged on Sooyoung’s sleeve, “Can we go somewhere else?  I don’t want to, uh-“

“Huh?  That’s alright; I think I see some girls I know over there.  Mind if I show off my fiancé a bit?”  Sooyoung smiled at him and he felt a bit better.

“Sure, anything’s fine.”  I just don’t want to stay here.

An hour later the party was still going and the entertainment was rolling out.  He was anticipating seeing Jaebum and Youngjae perform but right before they were set to go on he was met with someone urgently tapping on his shoulder.

“Jaebum?  What’s wrong?”    Jaebum was the last person he expected to be talking to him right before his performance.

“Prince Tuan,” He gave a hurried bow.  “I need you to do me a favour.”

Mark nodded; there was no way he could say no to Jaebum.

“Take Jinyoung up to his room and make sure he goes to bed, I’d do it myself but I need to perform.  It’s really important.”  Jaebum was being awfully serious.

“Jinyoung’s not exactly happy with me right now, I really don’t think—“

“I don’t really care what’s going on between you two but I need you to do this now, it’s really important.”  Before Mark even had a chance to reply Jaebum waved him off and ran to go get ready to perform.

Mark was screaming internally but he didn’t want to find out what would happen if he decided to not listen to Jaebum. 

Jinyoung wasn’t too hard to find, after wandering around for five minutes he heard his loud laughter coming from one of the corners of the room.  He was still holding a glass of wine in his hand while he talked to a girl.  He was talking animatedly and she looked like she wanted to leave but didn’t know how to.

Mark took a deep breath and walked over to them, standing between to separate them. “J-Jinyoung…”

“Mark!!”  Jinyoung yelled a bit too loudly.  People turned to look his way and his body curled up trying to hide in plain sight. 

The girl standing behind him took this as her cue to leave.  “Jinyoung, Jaebum asked me to just take you up to—“

“Mark!! I missed you, where have you been?!”  Jinyoung was smiling and laughing and Mark was very confused.

More people were starting to stare and he decided to take Jinyoung by the hand and forcibly pull him from the room, he followed along obediently.  “Jinyoung, are you… alright?”

“I’m fine!  Fine!  Really fine!”  Jinyoung said, slapping him on the shoulder in the process. 

Jinyoung smelled highly of alcohol and Mark snatched the empty glass from his hand.  It’s hard to get drunk on wine alone, there no way… “How many of these did you drink?”

“I stopped counting after… five.”  Ah, so that’s why Jaebum was so worried.

Mark just grabbed his hand and dragged him alone, Jinyoung stumbling and laughing behind him but following diligently.   “You’re so strong! Mark!”

“Alright.”  Mark wasn’t sure how to reply to the nonsense Jinyoung was spewing.

When they got up to his room and they both got inside Jinyoung broke off from his grasp and went to close the door behind him.

“Jinyoung, what are you doing?”

Jinyoung smirked before pushing Mark up against his door and kissing him forcibly. 

Mark was startled. Jinyoung tasted of alcohol and Mark was trying to push him off him but Jinyoung pressed his entire body up again him.  He was finally able to separate them,  Jinyoung looked up at him with his eyes glazed over and it turned him on way too much.  Focus.

“Hey, Mark… I’m still upset you know. Really. Upset.”  Jinyoung was pouting; he knew Mark was weak to his pouts.  “It’s too bad you’re so… irresistible.” 

He had never heard Jinyoung talk in such a tone before.  It took sheer willpower not to give in, but then he felt Jinyoung’s hand crawling up inside his shirt and he knew this was going too far.   “Whoa, whoa, whoa.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”  Jinyoung echoed while laughing.

Mark grabbed his hand and pulled it back out from his clothes.  “You’re going to bed now.”  Mark grabbed him and almost pushed him right on top of his bed.  “I’m leaving now, you need to sleep.”

“Wait!  Don’t go!”  Before Mark knew what was happening Jinyoung pulled him down on his bed and held him down.  “Don’t leave, please.  I’m sorry.”  He slurred.

“What?” 

“Maaark!  I’m sorry I yelled at you… yesterday.  I was only angry because I knew you were right!  I just don’t know what to do!  What do we do?  I don’t want you to leave me, ever.  I just…”  Jinyoung lied down on his bed and sighed.  “I’m really tired all of a sudden.”

Mark couldn’t help but laugh.  Drunken Jinyoung was an emotional whirlwind he could not handle.  “Just sleep, you’ll feel better in the morning.”  Mark crawled up and put his arms around him, and Jinyoung nestled into his embrace.  “I’m sorry too.”

Jinyoung was clinging on him tightly.  “Please stay here tonight, I don’t want to stay here alone.” 

It was a weird request, considering he probably slept in his room alone every night, but he decided not to question drunken Jinyoung.  It wasn’t like he was able to get out of his tight embrace anyways.  “Alright, don’t worry.  I won’t leave.”

After that Jinyoung fell right asleep, and Mark followed suit shortly after.

Mark was woken up the next morning by loud knocking on a door.  He groaned and tried to roll over, only to be greeted by the warm body of someone else.  That’s when he remembered what happened the night before.

“Ughhh…. someone please stop that knocking… it’s making my head hurt.”  Jinyoung groaned from beside him and tried to shield his ears with his pillow.

Mark suddenly realized that someone was on the other side of the door, probably wanting to come in, and he was still in bed with Jinyoung.  He sat up and tried to find someplace to hide, but the door swung open too quickly for him to get anywhere.

Mark fell back on the bed and sighed.  Busted.